Engagement Exercise Group Leadership

Group Leader Proposal

Introduction and Background

From the onset, it would be prudent to note that in the past, I have been involved in the leadership of a number of groups. These are inclusive of, but they are not limited to, an investment club for peers and a group engaged in diverse philanthropic efforts at the community level. In the present scenario, I was involved in the leadership of a parenting group.

The Group Context

The parenting group in this case seeks to share ideas and experiences on a wide range of parenting issues, i.e. what works and what does not in as far as effective parenting is concerned, how to reign in counterproductive habits amongst children, etc. At the moment, the group does not accept new members owing to the need to maintain an ideal forum for members to engage. The group was established six months ago. We have been meeting on a weekly basis. Participation happens to be largely voluntary. I have been a group leader for the last 3 months. My roles are inclusive of the coordination and management of all group activities.

The Setting

Our next meeting will be on the 21st of August, at 1 PM in our church hall. Ideally meetings last for three hours – with 15 minute breaks after every hour. I expect the group to have a quorum at 10 members. The group has a total of 20 members. The members are all young mums of between 25 and 40 years. They all come from my circle of friends. The meeting was announced via a common WhatsApp group that brings together all members.

Meeting Goals and Norms

The goal of the present meeting will be to discuss meaningful strategies to minimize phone addiction among children. This is a key topic owing to the fact that all group members are parents whose children are likely to own smartphone devices – which have been shown to be rather addictive. As a warm-up activity, I plan to start the meeting with a two Christian hymns. All members have been made aware of the topic/subject/agenda of the day via the WhatsApp platform so that they can do independent research in readiness for making meaningful contributions during the engagement.

Meeting Content and Process

The middle phase of the proposed meeting will largely focus on an exploration of what various studies conducted in the past have had to say about smartphone addiction and its downsides. In this case, several peer-reviewed sources would be explored. Handouts containing the summarized findings of the said peer-reviewed studies will be distributed to members for ease of reference. Below is a proposed timeline of the session: